This invention relates to the construction of a gas cooktop or range in a particularly efficient and compact arrangement.
In smaller kitchens, space for a gas cooktop is limited. One common width for smaller residential ranges is 30 inches, with the cooktop having four burners arranged in the form of a rectangle.
In some busy cooking situations, it is desirable to have more than four burners. Further, in some situations, it is desirable to have a particularly large container positioned over a burner. With the compact four burner arrangement, a large container cannot be centrally positioned on any of the units without hanging over a side edge of the cooktop, and that space is typically not available for such positioning because of an adjacent counter, wall or other restriction. Further, even if space is available adjacent the sides of the cooktop, the back units could not be utilized because the container would engage the short back wall of the cooktop or the adjacent wall in the kitchen. If the front units were employed, the container might hang over the front edge of the cooktop and be in a somewhat precarious or dangerous position.
Cooktops are of course available having more than four burners, but the burners are not arranged sufficiently compact to fit a 30xe2x80x3 width requirement.
Accordingly, the need exists for an improved gas cooktop or range construction to satisfy the foregoing objectives.
Briefly stated, a gas cooktop or range is provided having five burners arranged in a very compact manner. Four burners are positioned in a rectangular pattern with a fifth burner centrally positioned between the four. More specifically, the fifth burner is positioned halfway between the two front to back rows and halfway between the two side to side rows. With such an arrangement, a cooktop can be provided with no more than a 30 inch width and an even smaller front to back dimension of about 24 inches. Of course, the five burner configuration is also practical and space efficient in situations in which each individual burner is to be made larger, or spaced further from adjacent units.
With gas burners, it is of course necessary to have a grate above the burners. In a preferred gas cooktop arrangement, the grate is formed in three sections. This includes two spaced side sections extending from front to back with each side section extending over a front burner and a back burner. A central grate section extends from front to back and mates with the adjacent side sections. The side sections have a generally rectangular shape, except that the edge facing the central section has a concave central portion curved to fit with circular central section that extends over the central burner. The circular section is integral with relatively narrow front and back portions that extend respectively to be aligned with the front and back edges of the adjacent side sections.